Hello all!

I return from seeing Dr. Tyson in person at the Schnitzer Auditorium in Portland, OR. I am pleased to say that he went WAYYY overtime and was the most engaging speaker that I have seen yet! Dr. tyson spoke of the incredible work that NASA and other agencies performed in the 60’s and 70’s. He told of the wane in scientific research that is on the horizon and of the gutting of the public school system that is causing it. You know, the intentional destruction of the very system that kept us a cutting edge scientific power for many years but is on the downslide now, that system!

He spoke of the shortsightedness of greed and divisiveness that is growing the 1% and killing exploratory research which is directly responsible for the growth in industry of OTHER countries. He quoted Dawkins and chastised those who let dogma interfere with scientific research and emphasized the need to return to innovation and education. He directly correlated religion with scientific oppression and denial, and addressed the violence that it’s divisive nature produces. Dr. Tyson also made the point that it is cognitive dissonance, NOT stupidity that allows intelligent people to get degrees in science yet hold onto the myth of a supreme being. Never did he belittle believers, but he also did not align himself with atheism. The brilliance of this position is that it allows him to teach science to religious people which often leads to their de conversion and allows them to enter reality without as much difficulty as having to be told that god is only a myth.

Atheists with nothing to lose and no wish to have a platform from which to speak in the religious community, appreciate Dr.Tyson and already know that gods are a myth created by men afraid of the dark and of death. Dr.Tyson, on the other hand, wants very much to bring scientific truth to these people that plant their heads in the sand, and by getting them interested in truth, he creates more people based in reality and not in the fantasy world of unseen specters. I see and very much appreciate his approach and see that it is a wonderful effort to wake people up without insulting the mythology that they believe in.

Most people are followers, and will do what they are told. Those with their heads in reality tend to resist the crowd mentality better than those who believe in the nonsense of the bible and other books, so when led to the light, the rest of the truth usually breaks the trance that these people have been in for years.